Nicolas Winding Refn Puts the Brakes on a DRIVE Sequel, But The Driver May Return to the Screen

Even though bookshelves currently feature the sequel to James Sallis’ novel Drive, on which Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2011 cult film was based, the director has no plans to adapt it. We previously brought you the author’s thoughts on an adaptation of Driven; that film may still go ahead, just not with Refn and star Ryan Gosling attached. However, Refn commented on the fact that even though a Drive sequel is out of the question, the character of The Driver may yet appear again on screen. Hit the jump to get this sorted out.

Via The Playlist, Refn recently spoke to The Evening Standard about the progress on the Driven adaptation, in blunt fashion:

“That is never going to happen. But the character of The Driver might return in another film. We’re playing with that idea. We’ll see what happens.”

So unless Sallis has given his blessing or Refn has purchased the rights to the character, it looks like we could see The Driver in a Drive spin-off of sorts. This is just speculation, but perhaps Refn didn’t want to get slapped with a “franchise director” tag or maybe Sallis’ follow-up simply didn’t work for him. We’ll keep an eye out for more on the Drive sequel/spin-off.

In related news, Refn is preparing to release his next film, Only God Forgives, which stars Gosling as a man living in exile in Bangkok after killing a cop. He manages a Thai boxing club as a front for a drugs operation and finds his peaceful coexistence upended after his brother is killed for murdering a prostitute. The boys’ mother arrives in Bangkok to collect her son’s body and instructs Gosling to take revenge and “raise hell.”

Gosling, meanwhile, will be making his directorial debut in How to Catch a Monster, with Drive co-star, Christina Hendricks. When asked if he’d offered any words of advice to Gosling on sitting in the director’s chair, Refn responded:

“We have spoken about it, and of course I will give him advice if he wants me to. I told him if he wakes up in sweats at 5am on the morning of shooting to call me.”